Last year the St. Louis Area Foodbank distributed 310,000 pounds of sweet potatoes to our neighbors in need in the bi-state region. Foodbank staffers are celebrating National Cook a Sweet Potato Week by sharing some of our favorite recipes.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, butter and pecans. Sprinkle over the sweet potatoes.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Recommended by Kelly Hall

Easy Roasted Sweet Potatoes

These roasted sweet potatoes are easy and versatile; the possibilities are endless. With only 30 minutes you can enjoy this delicious dish for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Recommended by Allison JonesRecipe provided by Spoon and Saucer

Pulled Pork Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

This recipe is a great solution for leftover pulled pork. Delicious and smoky this recipe makes a great dinner for the chilly winter months. Recommended by Sara LewisRecipe provided by The Novice Chef

Sweet Potato Avocado Bites

These bites are vibrant, zesty, and addictive. They’re the perfect addition to any party, and they look a lot fancier than they actually are. Recommended by Michelle KnightRecipe provided by Blissful Basil

We will be watching this bill closely as it moves from the House to the Senate. We hope that as H.R. 644 moves forward in the Senate that both Republicans and Democrats can come together in support of the legislation.

This is an important legislative priority for the St. Louis Area Foodbank and food banks across the country. We know that all of your calls and emails to your Members of Congress contributed to it’s success thus far.

Stay up to date on important legislative issues and future action alerts.

$40 GA | $80 VIP

Use our promo code IRONBANK and save $5 per ticket!

A portion of the proceeds from the event benefit the Foodbank

Thank you to everyone that joined us for the first Friends of the Foodbank Pre-Party for Hunger Is No Laughing Matter.

We enjoyed delicious food by Mission Taco Joint and beverages from A-B In Bev and Glazer’s Distributors. We were also lucky to spend a little time with our headliners The Sklar Brothers and opening acts Kelsey McClure, Hot Comedy with Kenny Kinds and Nick Vatterott.

The House Ways and Means Committee will mark up today a bill that would expand and make permanent three expiring charitable tax incentives, including our food donation tax deduction. H.R. 644 was introduced Monday by Representative Tom Reed (R-NY) and is expected to move to the floor for a vote the week of February 9.

The same bill failed to pass the House under an expedited process called Suspension of the Rules last December by only a handful of votes last December. This time House Republicans are planning to bring up the charitable tax bills along with several other tax bills to highlight “Tax Certainty Week.”

This is an important legislative priority, and we urge you all to email or call your Representative this week to urge them to support its passage.

Connect to your Representative first, state that you are a constituent, and give your name and the name of the St. Louis Area Foodbank.

Let them know you are calling about food donation and charitable giving tax legislation and deliver this important message:

As your constituent and supporter of The St. Louis Area Foodbank, I am calling you today to ask you to vote for H.R. 644 on charitable giving tax incentives. This legislation is critical to ensuring our food bank has the food and the funds needed to continue supporting those in need in our community.

Saturday, January 31, 2015

The Pageant | 6161 Delmar Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63112

$30 each

Headliner: The Sklar Brothers

Randy and Jason Sklar began as one zygote and later guest starred in many TV shows, including an Emmy Award winning episode of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, the FX hit “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, as well as Adult Swim’s Childrens’ Hospital. They starred as conjoined twins in a memorable episode of Grey’s Anatomy and as warring agents on HBO’s Entourage. Of the Entourage episode, Entertainment Weekly television critic Paul Katz wrote of their turn, “in the hands of comedic masters, The Sklar Brothers, they made it soar.” They’ve also appeared in such films as Touchstone’s, Wild Hogs, and Fox Atomic’s, The Comebacks.

They currently host the critically acclaimed History Channel docu-comedy that highlights the ways in which statistics tell the story of America called The United Stats of America.Read more

Opening Act: Nick Vatterott

In 2010 The Hollywood Reporter named Nick Vatterott one of the “break-outs” at Montreal’s Just for Laughs Comedy Festival. Since then he has performed on Conan, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and has a half hour special on Comedy Central. Nick was also a producer/writer/performer on Comedy Central’s stand-up sketch hybrid show Mash-Up.
Nick has toured with Chicago’s storied Second City and his sketch group ‘Heavyweight’ has performed at Second City’s Unhinged and the Toronto Just for Laughs Festival. He was the recipient of the prestigious Andy Kaufman award in 2011 and before heading off to NYC, Chicago Magazine listed Nick as “The Funniest Man in Chicago.”

Nick Vatterott’s comedy has been called high-energy, improvisational, unconventional, outside the box, but most of all hilarious!

Emcee: Kelsey McClure

Kelsey McClure, of Comedy in the Lou,is a distinctively average comedian. She books, promotes and produces a variety of comedy events in the city. She doesn’t mind speaking in third person and one day hopes to sit on Conan O’Brien’s couch.

Once a month she recommends comedy shows and gets to interview comedians on occasion. Kelsey is also the organizer of the Riverfront Times Standup Throwdown–a standup comedy competition for aspiring comedians. Proof of which can be found via the Riverfront Times.

During November, over 30 Valvoline Instant Oil Change locations asked their customers at the register if they’d like to make a donation to the St. Louis Area Foodbank.

Here’s why we chose to work with the Foodbank:

Good Donation Mileage: Like a car getting good gas mileage per gallon, we knew donating to the Foodbank was a great way to stretch a donation. For every $5 donated, we could help provide 20 meals!

Local: We have locations all over the bi-state area – from O’Fallon, MO to O’Fallon, IL. All of our store managers wanted to work on a campaign that benefitted their own community. The Foodbank serves 14 counties in Missouri and 12 counties in Illinois. Where we are, they are. I think this type of partnership would make sense for any business with multiple locations in the greater St. Louis area.

A friendly (and sometimes heated) competition between the stores helped push everyone to be the best fundraisers they could be. Each day, we looked at how much each store raised and divided that number by how many cars were serviced. This was a fair way for every store to compete with one another.

Of the approximately 850 locations across the entire country, the location that raised the most money was based in St. Louis! On top of that, our region as a whole raised more money ($25,237) than any other region in the country!

Our employees had fun working on this campaign, and our customers liked it too. Most importantly, we were able to make sure local families have a hot meal during the coldest time of time.

Like so many of our partner agencies, Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois at Hardin traces its roots back to one determined individual who saw a problem and took it upon herself to find a solution.

More than 60 years ago, Elsie Dixon began a local food pantry out of the back of her truck that evolved into the agency that today feeds and provides clothes for 100 to 125 families every week.

The Hardin agency serves all of Calhoun County, Ill., a mostly rural area where farming is the predominant form of employment. The clients served represent a mix of ages, but skews toward senior households rather than young families.

Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois at Hardin operates a food pantry that clients can visit once per week. In addition to food, the agency provides clothing and shoes for clients. They also host a community Thanksgiving dinner for individuals without nearby relatives. Closer to Christmas, they sponsor an angel tree program for kids in conjunction with two local banks, several schools and local churches. Homebound clients receive food through the agency’s “Neighbor to Neighbor” program, with neighbors or a relative serving as a proxy to take food to people unable to get to the pantry site.

Food is distributed each Wednesday and Thursday. Most of the pantry volunteers are in their late 70s or early 80s.

“I guess the biggest change I’ve seen in the past six months to a year is the return of past clients who had become self-sufficient but now find themselves needing help again,” says Manager Vera Droege. “As we head into the winter months, folks are going to be struggling to stretch their budget to cover heating costs.”

“We really depend on the St. Louis Area Foodbank to keep our doors open,” notes Droege. “We would be hardpressed to provide people with nutritious meals without this important resource. It is our primary source of food. We are so grateful to the many donors who support the Foodbank, which then supports our pantry.”

Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois at Hardin208A S. County Rd., Hardin, IL 62047

Our partner agencies help provide vital food to families throughout the bi-state region. They also provide something that is less tangible, but no less important: hope that things will get better.

Part of that hope comes from empowering clients with the knowledge of how to prepare the nutritious food they receive from their local food pantry.

Because of its location in a rural area, Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois at Hardin sees donations of fresh produce increase during the summer months. These donations often include tomatoes, squash and peppers. However, they don’t want to just distribute food, they also want to teach young people how to cook.

“We once received 2,000 wonderful pounds of potatoes from the Foodbank,” notes Manager Vera Droege. “When we started sharing them with families, one of our clients in her mid-30s admitted that, as a latch-key kid, the only potatoes she had ever cooked had come from a box. One of our volunteers taught her how to peel and cook a potato.”

The agency now has someone from the county home extension office come to the pantry once a month to prepare foods using currently available ingredients, offer samples to clients and provide them with recipes.

That’s the kind of personal touch the staff and volunteers at our partner agencies offer to clients facing emotionally and physically challenging times. That’s what you provide when you support the St. Louis Area Foodbank.

Connect to your Representative first, state that you are a constituent, and give your name and the name of the St. Louis Area Foodbank.

Let them know you are calling about food donation and charitable giving tax legislation and deliver this important message:

As your constituent and supporter of The St. Louis Area Foodbank, I am calling you today to ask you to pass the new legislation for charitable tax extenders (HR 5806) as a stand-alone bill before Congress adjourns for the year. This legislation would help ensure our food bank has the food and the funds needed to continue supporting those in need in our community.

Be sure to dial back in and speak with both of your senators and your representative.